“Maybe It’s Time” to watch Eddie Vedder cover ﻿’A Star Is Born’﻿ song with Bradley Cooper

“Maybe It’s Time” to watch Eddie Vedder cover ’A Star Is Born’ song with Bradley Cooper

May 28, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Pearl Jam‘s headlining set at the BottleRock Napa Valley festival featured a surprise appearance by Bradley Cooper.

The Oscar nominee joined frontman Eddie Vedder for a rendition of the song “Maybe It’s Time” from the movie A Star Is Born, which Cooper starred in and directed. Cooper also stuck around for PJ’s set-closing performance of Neil Young‘s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Fan-shot footage of the onstage collaborations is streaming now on YouTube, and Pearl Jam posted the BottleRock set list alongside a photo of Vedder and Cooper hugging on Facebook.

Cooper has long cited Vedder as one of the inspirations for his A Star Is Born character, Jackson Maine. Vedder has also performed “Maybe It’s Time” solo and played it for the first time during a Pearl Jam show in Las Vegas on May 16.

Pearl Jam is currently on tour in support of their new album, Dark Matter. The outing continues Tuesday in Seattle.

“Fare you well”: Dead & Company members pay tribute to basketball legend Bill Walton

May 28, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Basketball legend and sportscaster Bill Walton died Monday at the age of 71, and he was remembered by some of his closest friends: the members of Dead & Company.

Walton was a Grateful Dead superfan and, at 6 feet, 11 inches tall, likely one of the “biggest” Deadheads ever. Dead & Company wrote on Instagram, “Fare you well, fare you well, we love you more than words can tell. Bill was an irreplaceable force and spirit in our family. Father Time, Rhythm Devil, biggest deadhead ever.”

“Over 1000 shows and couldn’t get enough. He loved this band and we loved him,” they continued. “We will miss our beloved friend, @BillWalton, deeply. Rest in peace and may the four winds blow you safely home.”

Dead & Company’s Bob Weir posted a separate tribute, writing, “Yo Bill, thanks for the ride. Thanks for the wonderful friendship, the years of color commentary – and the Hal of Fame existence that you wore like headlights. Bon voyage ol’ buddy. We’re sure gonna miss you – but don’t let that slow you down.”

Drummer Mickey Hart wrote, “Bill was my best friend, the best friend I ever had. He was an amazing person, singular, irreplaceable, giving, loving. His love for our music was beyond description … He was the biggest Deadhead in the world and used our music as the soundtrack to his life … Bon voyage, old friend, I love you.”

Drummer/percussionist Bill Kreutzmann also paid tribute to Walton, writing in part, “Bill was a genuine fan that became a genuine friend … his towering presence was more than just literal. Whenever I play, there will now always be a hole where a seat should be, about ten rows back, center, where Bill used to stand, eyes closed, arms raised, while he felt the music running through him … I loved Bill Walton.”

Jane’s Addiction announces US tour with Love and Rockets

May 28, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Jane’s Addiction has announced a co-headlining U.S. tour with Love and Rockets.

The joint outing kicks off August 9 in Las Vegas and concludes September 26 in Indianapolis.

Presales begin Tuesday. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit JanesAddiction.com.

The tour news follows the reunion of Jane’s classic lineup — frontman Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery — for the first time in 14 years during an intimate show in London on May 23. Avery rejoined the group in 2022, while Navarro had been absent from the band since late 2021 due to long COVID-19.

Julien’s Auctions predicts John Lennon guitar will sell for over $1 million

May 28, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

John Lennon’s long-lost Framus 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar is up for grabs at Julien’s Auctions’ upcoming Music Icons auction, and it’s certainly an iconic piece of music history.

“It’s incredible,” Julien’s Auctions Executive Director Martin Nolan tells ABC Audio. “Presumed lost for 50 years.”

The guitar, purchased in 1964, was passed from Lennon to Gordon Waller of Peter and Gordon in late 1965; Waller then gave it to their road manager. It was only recently discovered in the 90-year-old road manager’s attic.

The guitar is an important part of The Beatles history, having been played on songs like “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and “Help!” George Harrison even played it on “Norwegian Wood.” And Beatles member Ringo Starr recently got to relive that history when he was reunited with the instrument at his home.

“We brought the guitar and he was so genuinely excited to see it and to play it and to take photographs with it,” Nolan shares. “He loved holding it and just reminiscing.”

Another person who’ll be reunited with the guitar is Lennon’s son Julian Lennon, who was photographed in the studio with it in 1965. Julian is also selling items in the auction, and Nolan notes, “Of course, Julian will come to see this before we gavel it to the new owner.”

While Nolan says The Beatles probably only spent about $100 on the guitar, its new owner will have to shell out a whole lot more, with bids already over $1 million.

“It could go a lot higher,” Nolan says. “There’s great interest in this. It’s so iconic. It’s very special.”

Julien’s Auctions’ Music Icons auction is happening May 29 and 30 in New York and online. More info can be found at julilensauctions.com.

Iron Butterfly’s Doug Ingle dead at 78; co-wrote and sang “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”

May 26, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Doug Ingle, who founded the proto-hard rock/heavy metal band Iron Butterfly and co-wrote and sang their signature song, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” has died. He was 78.

“It’’ with a heavy heart & great sadness to announce the passing of my Father Doug Ingle,” Ingle’s son Doug Ingle Jr. wrote in a Facebook post. “Dad passed away peacefully this evening in the presence of family. Thank You Dad for being a father, teacher and friend. Cherished loving memories I will carry the rest of my days moving forward in this journey of life. Love you Dad.”

Ingle was the last surviving member of Iron Butterfly’s most famous lineup. Drummer Ron Bushy, bassist Lee Dornan and guitarist Erik Brann died in 2021, 2012 and 2003, respectively.

The band’s second album, 1968’s In A-Gadda-Da-Vida, featured the legendary title track, a 17-minute composition that took up the entire second side of the album. The title is a misheard version of the phrase “in the Garden of Eden.” When Ingle first played it for Bushy, he was so drunk that he slurred the words, so Bushy wrote them down incorrectly.

An edited, three-minute version of the song reached #30 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album itself peaked at #4, and sold eight million copies in its first year alone. It went on to sell 30 million copies.

Iron Butterfly broke up in 1971, but Ingle was involved with various iterations of the band over the subsequent decades. He retired from performing in 1999.

As Variety notes, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” has become part of pop culture, having appeared in the Michael Mann film Manhunter and an episode of The Simpsons. It was also covered and sampled by artists including Slayer and Nas.

Bruce Springsteen postpones tour dates due to vocal issues

May 26, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Bruce Springsteen has postponed several dates on his European tour with The E Street Band.

On Saturday, May 25, the Boss announced that the show scheduled for that night in Marseille, France, would be pushed back due to “vocal issues and under doctor’s direction.” In an update postedo Facebook on Sunday, Springsteen shared that his May 28 date in Prague and his concerts in Milan on June 1 and June 3 are being rescheduled, as well.

“Following yesterday’s postponement in Marseille due to vocal issues, further examination and consulting has led doctors to determine that Bruce should not perform for the next ten days,” the post reads.

It adds that Springsteen is “recuperating comfortably,” and plans to resume the European tour on June 12 in Madrid.

The new dates for the affected shows have yet to be announced. Those who purchased tickets but are unable to make the rescheduled performances may receive a refund at their point of purchase.

Springsteen previously postponed concerts in 2023 in order to recover from peptic ulcer disease, which he said made him unable to sing for two to three months.

Mickey Hart says playing Dead & Company shows at the Sphere is like “being in the belly of a giant beast”

May 24, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Dead & Company recently launched their residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, and drummer Mickey Hart says performing at the state-of-the-art venue has taken the band some getting used to.

Speaking to Forbes, Hart says, “We just came off of a stadium tour. So, coming to the Sphere is almost like your living room in a way. It’s very small. 17 or 18,000 seats and everybody is right on top of you. They can really see you. And you can really see them. Normally, I can’t see the end of the crowd. But, now, I can see their eyeballs. So, it’s very intimate in its way.”

However, he notes, “It’s kind of like being in the belly of a giant beast – a giant robot. It’s artificial intelligence. It’s very complex. And it is a sphere. I had never played in a sphere before. So, it’s a completely different psychoacoustic situation there. You have to deal with the way it sounds and the way it looks.”

“But it is a challenge. It wasn’t easy,” Hart says. “There’s no sound really coming from the stage – it’s all coming from speakers all around … there’s nobody on stage except us – which is a different situation. Normally, it’s a family affair. We just get on the stage and we do what we do. Well, we do it differently now.”

“If the visual doesn’t overpower it, you’re able to find that magic when they come together.”

Hart is also a painter, and some of his artwork is part of a free interactive exhibit running alongside the residency called “Art at the Edge of Magic.”

The Dead & Company Sphere shows continue through July 13.

Report: Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi — Jon Bon Jovi’s son — are married

May 24, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

Stranger Things have happened: Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi, the son of Jon Bon Jovi, married in secret over the weekend of May 18, People magazine has learned.

It’s not clear where the nuptials took place. In March, Brown’s Stranger Things co-star Matthew Modine told Access Hollywood that he would officiate the marriage.

Brown and Bongiovi first connected on Instagram and started dating in 2021, according to People. They got engaged in April 2023.

Jake is the second of Bon Jovi’s sons to get married in May. People previously reported that Jesse Bongiovi, co-founder of the popular wine brand Hampton Water, wed his girlfriend, Jesse Light — yes, they’re both named Jesse — on May 7 in Las Vegas at the same chapel where Jon and his wife, Dorothea, married in 1989.

Plus, Jon’s daughter Stefanie is apparently preparing to walk down the aisle. Jon told Access Hollywood in January that he’d written what he called “the wedding song of the next 100 years” for her — it’s called “Kiss the Bride” and is on the band’s upcoming album, Forever.

Regarding Millie and Jake, Jon told Access, “We’re really madly in love with both of them because they get the idea that they’re in this together and we support it fully.”

George Harrison’s childhood home officially gets historical plaque recognition

May 24, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

The Liverpool home where the late George Harrison lived during his childhood has officially been designated as a historical site.

The BBC reports that a “blue plaque” — a marker installed by the English Heritage charity — was unveiled May 24 at No. 12 Arnold Grove in the Liverpool suburb of Wavertree. It’s one of the first official plaques to be placed on a property outside London.

The former Beatles member wrote of his house in his memoir, “It was O.K. that house — very pleasant being little and it was always sunny in summer,” according to the BBC.

His widow, Olivia Harrison, was at the unveiling of the plaque. According to The Guardian, she said, “This … recognition of George’s birthplace is a source of family pride for all the Harrisons, and something that none of us, mainly George, would ever have anticipated.”

“So much of who George was came from being born and spending his earliest years at 12 Arnold Grove, undeniably a part of who George was,” she continued. “He left a footprint on this world, on this country, in this city and on this street.”

She told the BBC that George had good memories of growing up in a “very tight-knit, secure family life.”

“There was something about these small family places and how you learn to respect other people’s space,” she said. “He had a freedom where he could go run down the alley and visit his nan and then back home. That was a big deal for a little five-year-old kid.”

“This was his cocoon, and out of that came such an incredible man with such vision and compassion and sensibility.”

Nathan Lane: Elton John didn’t want Timon & Pumbaa to sing ‘Lion King’ ballad “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”

May 24, 2024 by Classic Rock 93.9

The Lion King ballad “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” won Elton John the first of his two Oscars for Best Original Song. But perhaps it wouldn’t have if the filmmakers had gone with their original picks of characters to sing it: Timon and Pumbaa.

Nathan Lane tells Entertainment Weekly that in the 1994 animated film, his character, Timon the meerkat, and Ernie Sabella‘s character, Pumbaa the warthog, were supposed to sing the entire song, not just the opening and closing verses. However, Elton put the kibosh on that idea.

“Elton John was mortified that the warthog and the meerkat were singing it,” Lane told EW. “He said, ‘The reason I wrote the score was because I wanted to have a Disney love song. I didn’t want it to be sung by the rat and the pig.'”

“We did [record] a version,” Lane continues. “We sang the whole thing in our character voices … it’s hard to do that and be romantic. Elton was right … thankfully, everyone came to their senses.”

Elton won his second Best Original Song Oscar in 2019 for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” his song from Rocketman. Having already won a Tony and multiple Grammys, Elton became an EGOT in January 2024 when he won an Emmy for his Disney+ special Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium.

+ More